APY Lands residents stranded in the NT after bus charter stops services told they can return, but will have to find own way back
RESIDENTS of a remote Aboriginal region just south of the NT border became stuck in Alice Springs after the bus company that charters lifts suspended services, but have now been told they can return home if they find their own way back.
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RESIDENTS of a remote Aboriginal region just south of the NT border who found themselves stuck in Alice Springs after the bus company that charters lifts suspended services have been told they can return home if they find their own way back.
Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) executive board of management general manager, Richard King, confirmed with the Centralian Advocate on Wednesday that residents stranded in Alice Springs could return to community if they can make their own way there.
It comes after the bus service that charters people between the locations twice a week brought people into town from the APY Lands on Sunday, but suspended its services after the initial announcement the NT had closed to the whole of South Australia.
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Yesterday, border restrictions for people entering the NT from SA eased to only include Adelaide and surrounds, but the SA government simultaneously announced a six-day statewide lockdown.
“While SA (is) in lockdown for the next six days I can’t provide a service,” Bush Bee owner Grant Jaine said.
“We won’t travel for the next week. We will wait and see as things may change.”
He said a lot of APY residents in town were hospital patients.
APY Lands will not accept entry from anyone from a known COVID-19 hotspot and have closed their borders for three weeks, effective from midnight Tuesday.
At any one time there can be up to 200 people including women and children from the APY Lands in Adelaide, shopping and catching up with family.
Indigenous people are at greater risk of hospitalisation and death during a virus outbreak.
As of 4.30pm on Wednesday, the Parafield cluster in SA numbered 23 people, with seven others at high risk.
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